Tag Archives: foodie

Sunday Eats at PeteZaaz!

31 Jan

One of the other blogs I follow from time to time is called Nona Brooklyn.  The other day, I checked out Nona and read a great post about this new pizza joint in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn called PeteZaaz.  Chef/Owner Peter Nentner comes from No. 7 – a delicious restaurant in my neighborhood of Fort Greene and the other Chef/Owner and “Dough Man”, Glen Hudson comes from Pulino’s – a popular Keith McNally pizza spot on the Lower East Side.

PeteZaaz was written about for their inventive and playful approach to pizza.  The featured pizza that totally grabbed my attention was the Chili Con Carne pie… described in Nona Brooklyn here:

PeteZAAZ Chili-Con-Carne Pizza - Photo from http://nonabrooklyn.com

It’s got an ancho-based sauce. We use dehydrated ancho chilis and we rehydrate them with Sprite. We add garlic, onions, some lime zest, and we puree all that to make a nice little chili sauce. We braise some pork shoulder in the sauce, then we incorporate the rest of the sauce with a tomato sauce for the base for the pizza. We top it with the chopped braised pork shoulder, and I make a cream cheese burrata to top it as well.

We make our own fresh mozzarella in-house, at least twice a day. To make the burrata, I stretch some of the mozz and heat up some cream cheese, then stuff the warm cream cheese into a balloon of stretched mozzarella, and seal it up like a burrata. It’s like a mozzarella and cream cheese water balloon. After cooking it on the pizza, the cream cheese just oozes out.

When we pull the pizza out, we sprinkle it with cold pickled corn kernels, to give you a little acidic burst. Have you ever had Gushers candy? When you bite into a Gusher the juice comes shooting out, and I like that effect. With the cold pickled corn kernels, when you take a bite of the slice you get this burst of acidic flavor.

For crunch on that one we do a Cheez-It gremolata. I love Cheez-Its. I’ve been eating them forever. I mix crumbled Cheez-Its with lime zest, garlic, cilantro, parsley and Thai basil, and sprinkle that over the top for a little crunch.

I like to have an acidic component, a crunchy component and a sweet component as a base for all the pizzas. That’s the rule of thumb when we’re coming up with a pie.

 ~ Excerpt from NonaBrooklyn.com
Chilis rehydrated with Sprite?  braised pork shoulder, a house-made mozzarella and cream cheese water balloon that oozes over the pie?  I was so there.  I immediately contacted some friends (Kelly & Val, who live around the block) and Amie and Rob and we made a date for this past Sunday.
Upon walking into PeteZaaz, we realized it wasn’t the best atmosphere for seating a table of six.  It’s a long narrow entrance, where you can watch them making pies and grinding their own house-made sausage, which is cool, but the back seating area is pretty tight.  We decided to order a bunch of pizzas (thankfully, we were six people, so we could order a lot and try most things on the menu!) and bring them home to Kelly & Val’s apartment.

Making Sausage

Meanwhile, I was a little heartbroken when I found out that the chili-con-carne pie was just a special and was not available.  BUMMER!  But we managed to do alright with the other menu choices.
Here are Adam, Kelly & Rob waiting out front for our food…
So here’s the breakdown of our order:
One Baked Potato Pie (please forgive… the photo does not do this pie justice):
Baked Potato Pie – purple potatoes, applewood smoked bacon lardons, white cheddar and green onion covered with heavenly creme fraiche.
This pizza seriously rocked our worlds.  It was definitely the favorite of all of us.  It was basically like the best potato skin you’ve ever had (with the most amazing ingredients) served on top of this fresh, slightly crispy, slightly chewy amazing dough.  It was to die for.  I’m still craving more.
One Pie – Half Brooklyn (Tomato, House-Made Mozzarella and Marjoram), Half topped with House-Made Sweet Sausage 
The house-made sausage on this baby was pretty amazing.  That was my second-favorite item we ordered (after that life-changing baked potato pizza).  Side note… I never ate sausage growing up.  Like never.  I thought it was gross.  Since moving to New York, I have found a total love for sausage.  It is now one of my favorite pizza toppings.  And this sausage was outstanding.
One Pie – Half Pepperoni, Half Cold-Fried Chicken
Cold-Fried Chicken Pie – Curried Yellow Squash, Fontina, Stewed Collard Greens, Pickled Thai Chilis
I enjoyed the pepperoni pizza – they sliced up their pepperoni in thin strands and scattered them pretty uniformly throughout, which I liked… you got a little bit of pep in each bite!  The cold-fried chicken pie was not my thing.  The collards were hard to bite through and I just wasn’t crazy about the overall flavor in this pizza.  But the rest were winners!
Valerie ordered a Kimchi Roll – House-made Mozzarella, Kimchi Bruschetta, Thai Basil Pesto and Fried Shallots
I’m not a huge kimchi fan, but I had a bite and thought this sandwich was pretty good.  The fresh mozzarella was milky and delicious and the fried shallots were super tasty.
And Rob (our poor lactose-intolerant friend) ordered The Reuben Stromboli – Minus the Mozz - Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Chinese Mustard
I also took a bite of this one (it’s for the blog… I need to sample EVERYTHING!!).  The pastrami was super yummy – of course, I would have liked it better with the cheese – I mean, look who you’re dealing with here.  But another yummy dish – full of flavor for sure!
So – that was our PeteZaaz experience.  I would definitely hit this place up again.  Kelly and Val are lucky to live so close.  And they deliver!!  Next time I would have to get the Baked Potato pie again – only because it’s just divinely delicious.  But I’m hoping they get rid of the Cold-Fried Chicken pie and add the Chili-Con-Carne pie instead as a regular menu item… there has been some rumor of that according to Nona Brooklyn.  Fingers crossed… I have to try that chili pie!!
Meanwhile, even Lola the pup was digging this pizza:
Thanks for a delicious Sunday afternoon meal PeteZaaz.  I will definitely be back for more!

Some Blogs I’m Loving…

24 Jan

For someone who blogs, I’m really not so good at finding and following other blogs.  I don’t know why it is exactly.  Maybe it’s because I find it difficult searching through all that’s out there to find things I’m interested in.  Maybe it’s because if I’m going to be spending time on the computer, I’d rather be blogging myself, or checking out what my friends are up to on Facebook.  Maybe it’s because I am just old-fashioned and am still attached to reading magazines in print.  But because I love to blog and I know there are so many super talented bloggers out there, I’m making it a goal of mine to try to find and follow more blogs this year.

In the meantime, here are a few I thought I’d spotlight today:

Pregnant Chicken - Keeping Pregnancy Sunny Side Up

My friend John introduced me to this blog and I immediately loved it!  The author (Amy Morrison) has a great personality and she’s very blunt and honest about pregnancy and motherhood.  I appreciate that going in… although some things definitely scare me!  Here are a couple of my favorites:

“When I have kids I will never-  _____ “

“New Dad Survival Guide”

The Un-Lost

This is a blog I discovered when I was obsessed with finding my purpose and the career I wanted to pursue in life.  Now, I’m happily distracted with becoming a mother and that feels like purpose enough for the time being.  However, I still enjoy reading this blog and find the author Therese Shwenkler‘s point of view on the topic to be both candid and entertaining.  In catching up this morning with the Un-Lost, I’ve discovered that Therese is leaving her job and her home to do this blog thing full time – good luck to her!  I always get inspired when I hear of people making bold moves like this one.

Here are a couple of my favorites from Therese:

“Why I’m Getting Naked for 3,737 People”

“It’s Ridiculously Simple:  How to Find Your Life’s Freaking Purpose in One Minute or Less”

"The gastrognomes" - from the editors of Good Food Jobs

When I used to work in ad sales, I’d spent one or two nights a month volunteering at Murray’s Cheese Shop in their classroom.  I would help set up before the classes and clean up after the classes and then I’d be able to take the classes for free!  It was a great arrangement for a cheese-obsessed corporate girl like myself.  In the Murrays classroom is where I met the classroom director at that time… Taylor.  Taylor became one of my favorite parts of my evenings at Murray’s.  She was passionate about food and cheese.  She has a great energy and a “can do” attitude and I just felt happy being in her presence.  After a few years at Murray’s, Taylor told me she was leaving to start her own business – GoodFoodJobs.com with her friend Dorothy, their goal being to connect passionate foodies around the country with valuable work opportunities in the food world.  I thought it was brilliant!  And to this day (over a year later), it is a great success!

As part of Goodfoodjobs.com, Dorothy and Taylor started the gastrognomes blog, where they profile a different food professional each week.  I love reading about these food professionals and how they came to their current positions.  Many of them quit their unsatisfying corporate jobs just like myself.  Many of them have been in the food world since day one, but have navigated through less than stellar jobs until they found their happy place.  In any case… I always find it fascinating to learn about their journeys and I always leave inspired!  Enjoy.

And finally:

Bohemian Babies

My friend Amie just started this blog – like two weeks ago!  She is pregnant as well (five weeks behind me… which is so cool), so she is also navigating the world of baby stuff – bedding, furniture, nursery decor, strollers, blah blah blah.  Amie has a definite style and a total point of view when it comes to design.  In her search for baby stuff, she found the options at the big baby stores to be somewhat lackluster.  So, she began digging and digging to find unique, high-quality products and designs for her baby-to-be that more reflected her style.  Thus, Bohemian Babies was born.  She’s using this blog to highlight the coolest baby stuff she finds to make it easier for other mothers-to-be who don’t want to just buy everything from Babies R Us.  Check it out!

That’s all for now!  Happy Tuesday everyone – and please, if you have a favorite blog that you follow… share it with me!  Then I don’t have to do all that searching myself. :)

xoxo

A New Cheese In Town…

30 Jun

Yes, that’s right.  New York City is the proud home of a brand new cheese palace called Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.  Beecher’s comes to our city from Seattle’s Pike Place Market, where it opened in 2003, becoming the first artisanal cheese maker in Seattle!  Now we’re lucky to have their second retail store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.  The shop opened on Monday so of course I HAD to go check it out this week!

Beecher's Handmade Cheese on 20th and Broadway

As I walked in the door I was greeted with a sample of delicious fresh cheese curds made in house that day.  Cheese curds are super yummy – with a simple, mild cheesy flavor and a springy/rubbery texture.  They sort of squeak when you bite them!  I read that in the midwest, it is common to find fried cheese curds at carnivals and local food joints.  That sounds divine – like mini mozzarella sticks (yes, mozzarella sticks are my weakness from back in the day.  I was always a cheese lover – even before I had access to all these fancy cheese shops!).

Cheese curds made fresh in house!

Anyway, cheese curds only stay fresh for a matter of hours, which brings us to the coolest part of Beecher’s… they have a cheese-making facility right inside the store where they will be making their Flagship cheeses (but with fresh milk from Albany).  It’s awesome that cheese is now being made right in NYC!

The cheese-making facility inside the shop

Here’s a peek at the cheese-making room.  They weren’t making anything when I was there so I’ll have to go back for another visit soon.  In fact, they have little stools set up so you can grab a sandwich (or some cheese and crackers), plop down on an old milk container and watch them make cheese through the glass.  Sounds like an excellent way to spend an afternoon!

Pull up a milk container and watch the pros make cheese!

PS… I kind of want milk container stools in our new apartment.  Aren’t they cool?

Here are a couple more pictures of the very well designed retail space:

Cheese cases

Sweet chandelier

The Cellar - cheese lounge downstairs

Even more amazing… they have a little cheese lounge called “The Cellar” downstairs, where they serve a full menu along with wines and spirits.  They also use the “Cellar” to age their Flagship cheeses made upstairs in the cheese kitchen!  Awesome.

Ok – so I did my browsing… it was time to head over to the cheese counter and make a selection.

Nice little cheese bounty

Right away I told the cheese monger that I’m obsessed with Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (which they sell at Beecher’s along with a variety of cheeses produced all over the United States) – and I wanted to try Beecher’s Flagship cheddar to compare.  My monger, Emily, was a delight!  She put together a little Beecher’s tasting for me to allow me to taste the subtle differences between a few of their specialties.  I tasted:

  • Beecher’s Flagship – a semi-hard cow’s milk cheddar aged eighteen months with a delicious nutty flavor
  • Beecher’s Four-Year Aged Flagship – the same as the original – just aged longer – developing a richer, flavor with more depth
  • Beecher’s Flagship Reserve – made with the very best of the milk and wrapped in cloth to age, which results in the cheese losing about eighteen percent of it’s moisture and the flavor being even more concentrated!
  • Beecher’s Flagsheep - made in similar fashion as the Flagship but with the addition of sheep’s milk and then clothbound and aged to nutty, sweet perfection!
All of the cheeses were DELICIOUS … and all very different in flavor than the Cabot Clothbound.  I think I’ll just have to alternate. In the meantime, I brought home two cheeses:  The Four Year Aged Flagship and the Flagsheep.

Beecher's Flagsheep and Beecher's Flagship reserve cheddar aged four years

Mmmmmm.  I’m sitting here tasting bites as I write.  Here’s what comes to mind when I smell and taste each:
Four Year Aged Flagship – smelling it, I am brought back to the toasted cheese sandwiches they used to serve for school lunches… the best part, was when the cheese melted down the side of the bread and got extra toasty and sort of caramelized.  This smells like that.  Yum.  When I pop a piece in my mouth, I am overwhelmed with flavor.  The texture is firm but creamy with the little crunchies that I love.  It’s salty and tangy and nutty and rich.  Wicked tasty.
Flagsheep - this one has a milder, nutty, sheepy smell (not barnyard sheepy – but that lanolin kind of sheepy).  Tasting this one – it’s a little more subtle than the four-year Flagship.  I can taste the sheep’s milk – it’s still nutty and tangy (but less tangy) and the finish in my mouth is sweet – like the sweet taste in your mouth after you drink a glass of fresh milk.  Mmmmm.
Wow.  So excited to go back and try more!  And I can’t wait to go to the Cellar for dinner.  They have a super appealing menu with six varieties of mac & cheese, a whole mess of artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, veggies, salads, soups and main courses.  Anyone want to join me next week?
Finally – on a non-cheese note, Amie and I are doing the pillow shoot tomorrow, so I have no pictures to share today.  I got hired for another photography gig – shooting photos of an apartment for the broker who found us our place!  I did it today and had a lot of fun!  It was stress-free, I was able to get great results from the equipment I have and I love getting a sneak peek into new apartments!  Maybe I can turn this into a little side gig.  As for this fourth of July weekend… we are in pack/organize/purge mode! So enjoy the weekend and the fireworks everyone!  And goodbye June – hello July!

 

 

First Leg: Portland – a Food Paradise

4 Apr

So we’ve now spent a full day and a half in Portland and I’m in no way ready to leave!  I wish we had two weeks here instead of two days.  True to form, we’ve mostly been eating our way through the city – would you expect anything less?  But later on today our plan is to say goodbye to Portland (after hitting up a few more food carts) and then we’re heading south for the second leg of our Oregonian adventure – the Oregon Coast.

As for Portland – yes, we could totally see ourselves living here.  Although every time I say that to someone local, they bring up the weather as a big factor.  And to be honest, I’m not sure I could handle cloudy rainy days being the norm.  It might be a tad depressing.  But leaving the rain out of the equation, this city has a great vibe to me and I could totally see myself thriving in this type of environment.  There seems to be a spirit here – of creativity, idealism, optimism and a joy of life.  The food so far has been OUTSTANDING – I mean, a couple of the best meals I’ve maybe had EVER.  For real.  The city feels pretty new – with a sort of industrial, modern design thing going – but then there are all these charming little houses all over – like little cozy hobbit houses. We want one.  And it’s pretty quiet – and there are cool art installations all over and a cool free public transportation system and trees!  Lots of green and parks and trees!  I love that.

But now – onto the most important thing… food.

Actually – before I go there, here is my photo from Friday before we left.  I was apartment hunting in Brooklyn with Lyon – our awesome broker.

Photo 357 out of 365 – “The Brooklyn Heights Apartment That Won’t Be Ours”

"The Brooklyn Heights Apartment That Won't Be Ours" - Settings: ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/25 sec, 10-22mm lens (10mm)

So yeah, this apartment was SICK!  Gorgeous doesn’t even begin to explain it.  It is a Co-op – and the owners will only agree to a one-year lease and it’s a little out of our price range… so it’s not happening.  But man… this place feels like a real classy grown-up apartment.  You know?  Oh well.  Ours will be way cooler when we find one. :)

Ok – so now onto Portland food.

The first meal we had in Portland was at a place called Pok Pok on SE Division Street.

Pok Pok - SE Division Street - Portland, OR

It was recommended to us by a couple people – our foodie friends Kelly & Val said it was the best meal they’ve ever had…EVER.  So – we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed straight there!  No dilly dallying when it comes to food.  Before we went to the restaurant, I snapped Photo #358.

Photo 358 out of 365 – “SE Division Street – Portland”

"SE Division Street - Portland" - Settings: ISO - 100, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, 24-70mm lens (24mm)

Pok Pok serves up Southeast Asian pub/street fare – mostly from the North and Northeast of Thailand.  We ordered a specialty of the house – Spicy Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings, which seriously rocked our world.  This dish was named as one of the ten best restaurant dishes by Food & Wine Magazine in 2007… well-deserved.  The coating of caramelized fish sauce and palm sugar created a “candied” texture to the wings.  Ridic.

Pok Pok Spicy Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings

We also got our pork on with an order of pork loin satay skewers as well as green papaya salad with jasmine rice and sweet shredded Carlton Farms pork, fried shallots and cilantro.  This dish was actually our favorite of the three.

Meal one in Portland – holy shitake amazing.

Pok Pok - Papaya Salad w/Pulled Pork and Pork Satay Skewers

After lunch/dinner (it was five-thirty Portland time, but for us, it was eight-thirty NY time), we stopped at the little food cart pod across the street.  I couldn’t eat a thing – but we stopped at the pie spot and picked up two mini pies to take home for dessert – we would inevitably get snacky later.  The butter pecan pie was the perfect sweet ending to our first half-day in Portland before we crashed at around ten o’clock after being up for twenty-one hours.

the pie spot - SE Division Street

Yesterday – day two – was even more delicious.  We woke up, did a little work in our awesome funky suite-style hotel room at the Inn at Northrup Station (we totally love this place and don’t want to leave – it’s Austin Powers meets Willy Wonka).  Here is a picture of our hallway:

Inn at Northrup Station Hallway

Then, the foodie fun continued.

We had noon brunch reservations for a restaurant called Beast.

Beast Sign

While we stood out front of the restaurant, eagerly awaiting our noon seating, I took photo 359 – our reflection in the Beast window.

Photo 359 out of 365 – “Adam & Nell – Reflection in Beast Window”

"Adam & Nell Reflection in Beast Window" - Settings: ISO 320, f/4.0, 1/60 sec, 24-70mm lens (70mm)

Beast offers a four-course prix-fix brunch – two seatings – Sunday only.  We sat at a small communal table with six other diners and enjoyed one of the best meals of our lives.  Shout out to Amie and Rob for the recommendation.  Here is the menu – complete with wine pairings:

Course I

Rhubarb Clafoutis

Soft Whipped Cream

Maple-Glazed Bacon

Paired with Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Les Princes Abbes – 2007 from Alsace, France

 

Beast - Clafoutis

Course II

~Beast Hash~

Cattail Creek Butter-Poached Lamb

Market Potatoes, Maitake Mushrooms, Ramps

Green Garlic & Brussels Sprouts

Poached Farm Egg & Oregon Truffle Hollandaise

Paired with IBY Blaufrankisch Classic – 2009 from Burgenland, Austria

 

Beast Hash

Course III

Selection of Cheese from Cheese Bar – Pont-l’Eveque, Beecher’s Flagship, Everona

Viridian Farms Arugula

Aged Sauvignon Blanc Vinaigrette

Paired with Morin Sancerre Vieilles Vignes – 2009 from Loire, France

 

Beast - Cheese Course

Course IV

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Molasses – Buttermilk Ice Cream

Paired with Warre’s Otima 10 Year Tawny from Oporto, Portugal

 

Beast Chocolate Truffle Cake

Ok – so this meal… UTTER PERFECTION.  I’m serious.  The first bite of that delectably light, creamy, eggy clafoutis (with BACON) and tart little pieces of rhubarb started the meal off with “ooooh’s” and “ahhhhh’s” and proclamations of potential weeping.  The Beast Hash was the main event with rich, savory, earthy flavors.  The perfectly poached egg, when broken, spilled its bright yellow yolk, mixing wonderfully with the roasted veggies and moist, flavorful lamb.  A total knock-out of a dish.  Then there was cheese.  Can you imagine how blissed out I was??  The three cheeses were all delicious, with the Everona – a sheep’s milk cheese from the Piedmont region of Virginia – being my favorite of the three.  The peppery, nutty arugula went wonderfully well with the cheeses, freshening up our palettes after the rich Beast Hash.  And finally – the dessert.  I’m not a huge dessert person, but this chocolate truffle cake was wonderful… and the Tawny… delicious.  Though I must say that the cheese freak in me was craving a nice piece of blue to go along with the port.  Overall the pacing, the portions, the company (a couple who just moved to Portland from Australia and their mother) and obviously the food will make this meal go down in nellsdish history as one of my favorite restaurant experiences ever!!  I’m drooling again just writing about it now.  Amazing.

After our meal at Beast, our heads were in the clouds.  We were giddy, sated and in love with Portland.  We took a drive out to a mansion in the Northwest part of the city – a beautiful drive.  We looked at gorgeous houses along the way and then toured the mansion and walked around the grounds a little.  Later on (after digestion), we hit up some food carts for dinner:

Herb’s Mac & Cheese

 

Herb's Mac & Cheese Cart

Brian’s Pizza Truck – Slice

 

Brian's Pizza Truck

And our favorite of all carts thus far – the Koi Fusion Truck.  The asian tacos were so amazing here, I forgot to even take a picture.

At this point, we were stuffed… I know, we’re pigs… but I had to experience this rich food scene in only two days!  You gotta do what you gotta do.  Right?

So we finished off our day number two with a movie – Win Win.  I liked it a lot – didn’t LOVE it, but liked it a lot.

Whew.  Ok – that’s definitely enough for one day.  Now we’re off for the coast after a little Portland shopping.  I’ll catch up with you in the next couple days!

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